Behind The Scenes
by s h r a d e r p
Summary: Up-and-coming star Jade West just needs that last push to be Hollywood-famous, and what better way than to fake date Beck Oliver, world-famous artist? Easy peasy, right? ...Wrong. How will their "relationship" strive under the scrutiny of the media and the eyes of the public? What really happens behind the scenes?
1. Prologue

**disclaimer: **all i own is a big tub of mango yogurt.  
review after you read, i stg it's really helpful, you have no idea.

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I can't believe I agreed to it.

Seriously. I know most people would literally kill to even fake-date Beck Oliver, but not me. I met him once, back when I wasn't trying to be a successful breakthrough artist. He had been too rude and cocky for my liking. I mean, sure, I'm rude, but… whatever. I guess that doesn't really explain why I'm currently sitting in my manager's office, glaring at the floor like some petulant child while waiting for _him_ to arrive. It was all my stupid manager's idea. Stupid Travis. "You're so, so, so close to making it to Hollywood, I can feel it! You've got the looks, the talent, the hit-single ideas, the purity…" he had said. "You've got it all! All you need is that little push! It'll get you in the tabloids, make you famous, maybe even with a little bit of drama… just think about it!"

Needless to say, I wasn't expecting the push to be… _this_. Fake-dating a 'Hollywood hot shot.' But I agreed, because an itty-bitty smidge of drama never hurt anybody, right?

Except it wasn't itty-bitty at all. Beck Oliver is a huge problem. He was deemed the 'hottest guy alive' and all of that whatnot, and I suppose that's what makes him so egotistic – he's too confident for his own good. He lacked the 'purity' I seemed to possess. Let's put emphasis on the _seemed_.

My life isn't as great as you think it is, what with divorced parents and the daily struggles in school – no, I don't struggle in learning. I struggle in putting up with people picking on me _everysingleday_. (Who's laughing now, huh?) The only thing that kept me sane was writing songs. It became the main outlet for my emotions. I started performing at a small café I earned my minimum wage at, and somehow developed a 'fanbase' and attracted the attention of the 'important people.' In short, I got discovered.

Now here I am, kind of wishing I could take it all back – every single thing that happened to get me where I am now. I tried to convince Travis otherwise about the fake dating, but he was obviously hell-bent on making me crazy famous. And apparently, Beck had already agreed whole-heartedly and 'enthusiastically' (according to Travis). For having some 'enthusiasm', he sure was late. But, as if he could somehow be summoned by my thoughts, he burst through the door.

"You're late," I said.  
He grinned. "Hey, it's never too late for romance."

And I suppose that's what started it all.

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a/n: dun dun dun! is it looking good so far? :)


	2. Chapter 1: Jade

"Please tell me you're kidding."  
Beck merely chuckled beside me, and it took every fiber of my being not to turn around and punch him in the face.  
"Oh, but I'm not," Travis said. "You need a believable backstory – everyone will think it's fishy that you guys just spontaneously started to date out of nowhere. That's a big elephant dart to the public's face. You have to let people figure it out, let them be the first to say that they want you as a couple."  
I caught Beck's nod of understanding.  
"Let's say you and Beck were friends back in high school, best friends even. Then he found out you're moving to Hollywood and he offered to let you crash because you're just close like that. There's your backstory. Then when you're revealed as a couple, it'll be much more epic. We good with that?"  
"I like it," Beck put in.  
I rolled my eyes at him. "Seriously? We're really doing this?" I got blank stares from both of them as a response. "You want me to lie to everyone and move in with a… a stranger I don't like at al l—"  
"What the heck did I even do to you?" Beck said defensively. "Honestly, if you just handle this like a civil person, we'd be spared the drama."  
"Hey, look who swallowed a dictionary on his way here!" I said, feigning surprise.  
"Okay—"  
"Amazing," I continued sarcastically. "You know words other than your own name!"  
"You think I'm that conceited? I'll have you know, I _aced_ high school."  
Travis spoke before I could open my mouth. "Stop it, you two! It hasn't even been five minutes—"  
"Yes it has."  
He ignored my comment, "—and you're already at each other's throats!"  
"Okay, let me get this straight," I said. "If you hadn't picked the most annoying person in the universe _ever_ for me to "date", maybe we wouldn't be having this probl—"  
"I'm not the annoying one," Beck interjected. "_You_ clearly play that part."  
I gritted my teeth. "I'm trying to talk to my manager."  
"And I'm trying to talk to my future _girlfriend_, what's your point?"  
Travis slammed his fist down on his desk. "That's it! We _are_ doing this, and Jade, you're moving in with Beck whether you like it or not. You guys are gonna spend time together, like other best friends do! Just… do it, and before you know it, five months will have passed and it'll be over!"  
"Five months?" I repeated in disbelief. "Five months with this—this… jerk?"  
"So I'm the jerk," Beck muttered.  
"Jade," Travis said softly. I dropped my glare at his tone. "You need this."  
I looked down at my hands. I knew he cared about me and I knew he was right. Besides, what's so bad about it? I don't want to go back to the apartment with Mom regardless. Well, technically _my_ apartment, since she was never there. She slept over at her friends' houses or whomever she met at a club that night. The place was a dump and there were too many bad memories, anyway.  
"I have a guest bedroom," Beck said, his voice a lot lighter. Maybe he's not as asshole-ish as I thought he was. "It's nice and cozy, it's basically a tiny apartment. I'm willing to help, for some reason I don't know. It's a simple yes or no, so answer now."  
I noticed the biting tone at the end of his sentence, so I nodded mutely.  
"Great," Travis said with a small, relaxed smile. "Read though these, they're files. It's just a bunch of stuff any best friend should know about their best friend, also a lot of common facts and a few personal things. Remember, you've been friends for years but lost contact because of Beck's big break. You guys got that?" he said as he handed Beck's folder to me and my folder to Beck.  
"Are we going to be tested on this?" I asked, opening the folder and scanning some pages.  
"Nerd," Beck muttered. I rolled my eyes.  
"Well, technically, the interviews would be the tests. But it wouldn't hurt to have a little test of our own! I'll ask you questions just like an interviewer every now and then, and you guys will have to make it real – show affection."  
I nodded. I could memorize information and spit it back out, easy as pie.  
"So what now?" Beck asked.  
"Now you move in." Travis smiled.  
I blinked at him. "Like _now_?"  
"Noooo, let's wait until you're forty," Beck said sarcastically.  
I shot him a glare.  
"You can't be that far from that age, mm?" he continued. "I mean, I _do _see some lines, possibly wrinkles."  
I rolled my eyes, dismissing his pathetic attempt at hurting my feelings – I've heard worse, he'd have to try harder. "Pretty sure you wouldn't have agreed to this stupid deal if I was close to forty."  
"Maybe—"  
"Guys!" Travis cut in frustratedly. "This is hardly the time. Beck, take her to get her stuff. Load it in your car—"  
"A Landaulet," Beck corrected. "Not just a car."  
"Right, Landaulet, whatever," Travis said. "Then take her back to wherever you live. Hopefully there's some paps so word can spread out that you're moving in together."  
"Okay," Beck said, walking out of the room. "Later, man."  
"Yep, later!" Travis called, seemingly not noticing how rude Beck was. I wave goodbye and run after Beck. I huffed angrily when I caught up to him outside, in front of his car. A Maybach Landaulet. I only know because of the Maybach logo and the fact that he so rudely said it was "a Landaulet, not just a car." We both got in and strapped on our seat belts.

"So where's your house?" Beck asked as he started up the car and drove out of the parking lot.

I felt a bit panicked, realizing he would have to see the wreck I lived in. It wasn't the most beautiful place out there and I'm ashamed of it. We lived in the cheapest apartment building in town, and the streets were paved with druggies and prostitutes. Nevertheless, I recited the address and told him a few landmarks. I cleared my throat to get him to look at me. "Can you not… judge? Or ask questions or anything? The 'parents' topic is off-limits."  
He shot me a curious side-glance before nodding in agreement. "Sure."  
"Thanks."  
The rest of the ride was silent, save for the radio playing, a few times when I told Beck where to turn and when he told me to stop biting my lip unless I wanted to "ruin my pretty little mouth."  
"Is this the place?" he asked as we came to a stop in front of the run-down building. I nodded, and we got out of his car.  
"Let's never get in that thing again," I said, referring to his Landaulet. "It's terrifying and makes you look like an asshole."  
He laughed. "Terrifying?"  
"Yep." I've never had a car, but I know how to drive. The idea of touching his _really_ fancy car was terrifying (hey, it was worth 1.3 million dollars). What if I ruined it?

We walked inside and made our way to my (mom's) apartment. I stared at the worn metal plate that said 104, just like it always had, since I was little. Back then, "home" meant happiness and warmth and love and the smell of cinnamon and vanilla from my mom's baking experiments. That was before she got severely depressed and her life spiralled downhill, turning to alcohol and oftentimes making a run for clubs and bars, staying with people she didn't know.

I reached for the doorknob and turned it, taking a hopefully unnoticeable deep breath. I pushed it open, praying my mother wasn't home. There wasn't a single sound after I opened the door, much to my luck. I sighed in relief.

"So which way's your room?"

I turned to face Beck, who didn't look bothered in the slightest. I looked away and led him to the only tidy room in the place. I smiled brokenly at the sight of my childhood room. "My suitcase is on top of that closet. Think you can get it?"

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a/n: they're moving in together at the next chapter and there'll be more bade! yay!  
i hope this was long enough for a second chapter, and i apologize for all or any mistakes. :)  
review, please? c:


	3. Chapter 2: Beck

**a/n**: thank you guys so much for the reviews! keep them coming, the more feedback i get, the more i write :)  
also, i apologize for... this. sorry for the mistakes! good luck omg i hope it's good enough for you guys

note: to avoid confusion, look at the chapter title so you know whose point of view the chapter's written from!

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"This isn't a house."  
I turn around and furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Excuse me?"  
"A house has four walls, a triangular roof, a tree with a swing made from a tyre and a garage where a family car is parked." Jade said, staring at the house in awe.  
I pushed the door open and gestured for her to enter. "Ladies first."  
"You go first," she said.  
"No, you go," I insisted.  
"No!" she said stubbornly. "Jesus, just get inside!"  
"Honestly, must we argue about everything?" I sighed. First, she won't let me carry the heavy stuff, now she won't walk in first. What's next? "Hurry before the paparazzi get here. I don't want to deal with them right now."  
She rolled her eyes and picked up her heavy suitcase from the ground. I raised an eyebrow. _Seriously? The girl was, what, ninety pounds?_ I looked at the suitcase in her hands and the small box in mine.  
"This is so backwards," I said. "Usually it's the guy who gets the huge suitcase while the girl struggles with the small box."  
And I didn't really hear what she said next, because I was too busy staring at that damn smirk of hers. I was only brought back to the present when she stepped on my foot (on purpose? I have no clue). "Ow! Why'd you do that?"  
She laughed. "Oops."  
_What?_ She's all carefree now. I was confused, until she mouthed, "Cameras." Oh. I gave Jade a huge grin and playfully punched her shoulder.  
"You dunce, that hurt!" Jade said, an adorable pout settling on her lips. She looked good, even in the absurdly bright lights from the camera flashes.

Was that real? Or an act for the paparazzi?

"Hey, Beck!" they yelled. They were all asking about Jade, but a particularly badly worded question stood out: "Is Jade your new arm candy?"  
"She's my best friend," I said kindly, though I was annoyed. Arm candy? Offensive. I'm not some girl-user!  
"How do you two know each other?"  
I gave a little laugh. "We knew each other back in high school. When I heard she was moving to LA, I asked her to move in."  
"More like forced me," Jade said, earning laughs from the press. She shot a side-smile at fans that had gathered nearby. "He's pretty persuasive, so here we are."  
A thousand flashes again. I decided that was enough for one day; 'cause they were pretty annoying. I declared that "we've got lots of stuff to do, maybe we can do this again some other time," and politely dismissed them. As soon as they were gone, the horde of fans replaced them.

Don't get me wrong, I love them, but not when they're trying to grab every part of me and tear me to shreds. I'm really grateful to them, but I'd also really appreciate it if my pee-pee buddy didn't get squished like a banana. Basically, they freaked out about Jade moving in with me and started screaming about "oteepees" and "shipping" – things I've never heard of.

After the commotion, Jade picked her suitcase up and I watched as she carried it inside with her, not even struggling. I must've looked dumb, gawking at her, because she smirked and said, "I told you it's stereotypical."  
_Ah, so that's what she said earlier._ I laughed a little, and a thoughtful look crossed her face.  
"I've got some pizza left from earlier," I said. "You hungry?"  
"God, yes."  
I walked into the kitchen and heated up the pizza. I came back to Jade acting like Consuela, my maid (and sort of nanny).  
"We're trending," I said, having just checked Twitter. I put down the pizza on the coffee table and grabbed a slice.  
Jade paused from organizing my DVDs (who knew she was such a neat freak? Was that on her file?), turned around to stare at me expressionlessly, and said in the most monotonous voice possible, "Wow, yay."  
I rolled my eyes. "Are you always this unappreciative?"  
"Are you always this irritating?" she shot back.  
"Whatever," I muttered. "Wicked Witch of the West."  
_Woah, that's a lot of W's!_ I was feeling pretty proud of myself when she threw a DVD case at me (thank God it was empty) and it hit my shin. I yelped in pain (it _really_ hurt, okay?). "Hey!" I got up, realizing she's not going to stop throwing more empty DVD cases. Seriously, I've got to start cleaning up after myself… Maybe next year.  
We ended up running around like five year-olds for ages, until Jade ran out of empty cases to throw. She threw herself on the black plush couch, breathing heavily. But she wasn't even sweating. I, on the other hand, am soaked.

"Do you even sweat?" I plopped down beside her.  
She scrunched up her face. "No. That's gross."  
"What the—that is _so_ weird. What if you, like, blow up or something?"  
Jade tilted her head to the side and looked me straight in the eyes. I noticed they were green with a hint of blue, a color that matched her name. "You're an idiot."  
"Whatever, Jade. Eat your pizza."  
"Does this one have onions?" she asked, referring to the supreme pizza.  
"Well, duh."  
"Gross," she said and settled for the four-cheese one.  
"So you hate onions and nicknames," I observed.  
"I also hate you. Among many other things," she said, but there was no weight on her words.  
I chuckled. "Whatever you say, bab—"  
"No!"

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful, since Jade refused to let me help her unpack and arrange the room she's staying in. We saw each other again at dinner (yes, she finished that fast), and she insisted that we start reading through the files to confirm things.

"What's your favorite color?" Jade asked, looking up from my file. "It doesn't say on here. Either Travis is dumb or it's confidential."

"Jade."

"What?" she asked, confused (and adorable).

I laughed. "That's my favorite color."

She rolled her eyes. "That's dumb."

"What's _your_ favorite color?"

"Black," she said simply.

Ah. Should've seen that coming. "Any other things I should know about you?"

"No."

"So about earlier, when we went to your apartme—"

"Shut up."

"Okay, okay. Off-limits, I know."

She rolled her eyes for what must've been the twentieth time today.

"You know what we should do?" I asked, grinning.

"What?"

"Let's do a livechat."


	4. Chapter 3: Jade

"Come on, Jade!" Beck shouted.  
I shut the door to my room. "No!"  
"Why not?"  
"My face isn't cooperating right now, okay?"  
He laughed loudly, and it seemed he was right outside the door.  
"Yeah, sure, laugh at me." I scowled.  
"Sorry," he said, clearing his throat. "Seriously though. I guess… at certain angles… you're pretty."  
_Wow, smooth. _I rolled my eyes.  
"Hello? Jade? Hey, are you in there? Did you hurt yours—oh, oh, you're ignoring me," he rambled. I stifled a snort. Seriously, how stupid can he get?  
"Jade, come on! Hey! Heyheyheyheyheyheyheyhey!" he said, knocking on the door (it wasn't even locked). "Fine, you're pretty at all angles!"  
I quietly stood there waiting with my arms crossed, until he finally decided to try the door. I smirked at his dumbfounded expression.  
"Wha—? How – you meanie!" he spluttered.  
"And, once again, you are an idiot," I said as I flipped my hair over my shoulder.  
"Let's just do the live stream!"  
"Uh, no." I noticed the guitar he held. "What's that for?"  
"Huh? What…? Oh," he said, catching on (finally!). He muttered, "I was planning to serenade you to coming out."  
I laughed so hard I thought my lungs were going to come out of my nose. "Seriously?"  
"Most girls would find that cute!" he said indignantly.  
"I'm not 'most girls', in case you haven't noticed," I scoffed.  
"Let's just do the diddly darn live stream!"  
_Diddly darn?_ "Fine."

* * *

"Hey guys, it's us, Beck and Jade!"

"Get ready to die of boredom."

"Hey, that's not very nice. _Anyway_, we were bored and we still have lots of energy to burn out—"

"I don't."

"Okay, I know you're a little tired from the unpacking and moving and stuff, but you've got to bear with me here."

"I'm out. I'm actually _really_ tired."

"No, you stay here."

"Uuuugghhhhhh."

"Alright, so – wow, we really have no idea what to do – so we're gonna, um, maybe react to your tweets and answer questions! Read the first one, milady."

"Get your hand off my leg first. 'Kay, that's better… Um, from twitter user _foreverbade_, 'Everyone's shipping you guys so hard!' Wow. I mean – what?"

"And to use our friend Google…"

"Really, Beck?"

"Hey, look at this! Moving pictures!"

"Don't you mean videos?"

"No, they're moving pictures called gifs. I'm not sure if I pronounced that the right way… Anyway they're on this website called… uh, tumblr…?"

"What does that have to do with what 'shipping' means?"

"'Kay, so… the two of us… there's this 'ship' called… oh God, this is really hard to explain. Just look at this."

"Oh, oh, oh, that happened a few hours ago! How do you guys make stuff that fast?"

"That's so entertaining – oh, look at this nice edit."

"What the—hey, that never happened!"

"That's why it's called an 'edit', Jade."

"Whatever."

"Moving on… from twitter user _victoriousmaddie_, 'Jade, what do you think of Beck?' Oh, that's an interesting question! Thank you for that. Do answer, dearest Jade."

"Pfff. Well, we're best friends, so I think he's cool. But he's dumb sometimes, so… yeah."

"Hey, I'm not dumb!"

"Suuuure. Did you guys know he was going to serena—"

"Yeah, _let'snottalkaboutthat!_ On to the next question!"

"Okay. Twitter user _cupcakecat _– oh, that's a catchy name – said, "Can you guys sing a song for us?' Hmm, I personally don't w—"

"Aww! Of course we can sing for you, we'd do anything for you guys. Any song you want us to sing, in particular?"

"Shouldn't have asked that… 'cause now we only have _a thousand_ song suggestions! Fun!"

"Jade, be nice."

"Whatever. Go sing for them."

"_A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade, laying everybody low with a love song that he made_…"

* * *

"Thanks for watching, guys!" Beck said, waving at his Pearbook's camera.  
I did the same. "Bye! Hope you had a nice time watching our pointless video."  
"This actually isn't pointless. We love you guys, see you!" he smiled and ended the live stream.  
I checked the time on my phone. "That took an hour? I was supposed to—"  
"Do you really have every day of your life planned?" he asked.  
"Yes," I said blatantly. Truth. I had everything set, my life planned out ahead of me… until this.  
"Well, you're way off schedule now. Let's check out the links they gave us!"  
I sighed but sat next to him anyway as he went to the first address.  
He laughed. "It's a fanmade video."  
I squinted at the screen. "Too flashy. Close it."  
"Yes, ma'am. Let's go to this instead… oh, here, another edit," he said, showing me an edit of him and me in some premiere thing, looking like we're each other's dates. It looked like it actually happened.  
"Oh, that's good. Could pass as a real photo," I said, impressed.  
He clicked on another link. "Hey, a story! I love stories."  
"That's really creepy."  
"Hey, they're creative."  
We both read the thing (one-shot, they call it), until we got to a… raunchy part. Beck closed the laptop's lid. "Oh."  
"I think that's enough internet for today," I said awkwardly.  
He nodded. "Yeah, or maybe a few weeks…"  
"Traumatizing."  
"Definitely."  
"That would never happen. Not in a million years."  
"Well…"  
"Dude!"

* * *

a/n: thank you guys omg i can't believe you actually think this thing is good

user **heartaches**, i loved the pee-pee buddy part too!

It was March 29 fifty-six minutes ago... yep, it's 12:56 right at this moment. AND YOU KNOW WHY MARCH 29 IS SPECIAL?

IT'S THE BADE WEDDING! YAY!

as i said, it's really late (or early? wtf time is confusing ugh) so there might've been some mistakes in this chapter. i apologize for them! anyhoo... pLEASE REVIEW ILY A MILLY


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